OBAMA’S SEVEN DEADLY SINS…

There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. “Good pride” represents our dignity and self-respect. “Bad pride” is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance. — John C. Maxwell, American author

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Last night, President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address. I don’t doubt that with it he infected even more Americans with what I call the seven-year itch.

Originally, the seven-year itch was a medical diagnosis of a persistent skin irritation. After medical science provided another name, the seven-year itch was a title for a play and then a movie in 1955.

So ingrained was the notion of the seven-year itch that psychologists were using it in the diagnosis of marriages on the rocks. I believe that the title applies to a broad and worsening national sickness and can be broken down to one word: Obamaitis.

The word “Obamaitis” is new to the lexicon and has myriad definitions, according to Urban Dictionary. It can be defined as believing the president even when you know that he is lying or having the urge to kill yourself every time you hear Obama’s name mentioned.

For our purposes, let us confine our definition of Obamaitis to a nationwide ailment whose onset began seven years ago when Obama was elected to his first term.

Below, I’ve taken the liberty to aptly name the cause of Obamaitis: Obama’s seven deadly sins.

The good news is that in one more year Obamaitis, like food poisoning, will have run its course. The bad news is that symptoms are getting worse by the month and will persist until this malady runs its course and quietly expires. Seven conspicuous symptoms encapsulate Obamaitis — a condition that, if untreated, can have grave repercussions for the nation and may over time destroy America, which once was the envy of the world.

Pride

The inhumanity and grand ambitions of radical Islam, which is spreading like a cancer across the Middle East, would be difficult for a proud Muslim to accept. If, as I believe, Obama is both a Muslim and silently proud of his religion, it could be why he seems so willfully blind to its evils and explains why he has been so harsh in dealing with Israel and overly accommodative toward Iran, specifically the making available of $100 billion to Tehran that can be used toward Iran’s ultimate goal of becoming a nuclear threat and the dominant power in the oil-rich Middle East. Being a sympathizer to Islam has weakened America. His halfhearted prosecution of the global war against Islamic fundamentalists reveals his wrath.

Wrath

It was reported late last August that Obama stormed out of a Pentagon meeting regarding a proposed bombing campaign against ISIS. According to Before It Is News, Obama was overtaken by a fit of rage and yelled at his top military leaders: “Don’t you dare try and paint all of Islam with the same brush.”

There have been other reports on how Obama’s angry outbursts belie the calm demeanor he presents to the public. In his book, “Believer: My Forty Years in Politics,” former Obama strategist David Axelrod reveals how the president once viciously chewed him out as he was preparing Obama for his 2012 debate with Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

“Motherf****r’s never happy,” Obama yelled at Axelrod before bolting from the room.

It is noteworthy that between taking office in 2009 and March 2015, the Obama administration has waged an all-out war on government whistleblowers and official leakers. According to The Guardian, during that span, his administration undertook eight prosecutions under the 1917 Espionage Act — more than double those under all previous presidents combined.

Obama’s public persona as a calm and collected world leader hides another weakness.

Lust

Obama’s lust for accolades is well documented from his burning, but thwarted, desire to have his picture taken with the dying iconic leader of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, to his and his wife Michelle’s near brawl with the Clintons over which couple would lay the wreath at the tomb of slain President John F. Kennedy in November 2013.

The Obamas’ lust for money and expensive vacations would be legendary, except much of their extravagant spending is typically not reported. Money Morning reported in June 2013 that Obama’s vacation spending far exceeds that of any past president. Just one of the Obama family’s vacations cost taxpayers $100 million. It required a hospital ship stationed near their resort in case anyone needed medical attention, 14 limousines, aircraft and an additional 56 support vehicles. Obama’s desire for things that only money can buy underscores another ugly trait.

Gluttony

In September 2012, the Mail Online reported that the Obama family costs taxpayers $1.4 billion per year, some 20 times more than is spent on the British royal family. The perks of being Barack Obama include having a handler for the family dogs. The position costs taxpayers more than $100,000 a year, and the handler is one of 226 Obama staff members paid more than $100,000 per year.

The numbers are compiled by author Robert Keith Gray in his book “Presidential Perks Gone Royal.” Gray states Obama isn’t the only president to have taken advantage of the expensive trappings of his office. But the amount of money spent on the first family, he argues, has risen tremendously under the Obama administration and needs to be reined in. According to Gray, the $1.4 billion spent on Obama in 2011 alone factor the cost of the “biggest staff in history at the highest wages ever,” a 50 percent increase in the numbers of appointed czars and an Air Force One “running with the frequency of a scheduled airline.” But there are other ways Obama displays greed.

Greed

The manipulation of authority is one form of greed, and Obama has relentless disregard for Congress. The latest example has been Obama taking aim at gun shows. The president’s most recent executive order attempts to clarify a distinction in federal firearms regulations between gun sales by businesses and guns sales by private individuals — this, despite the fact that Congress has steadfastly refused to extend background checks to private gun sales.

Lawmakers refused to pass such a change in December just after the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.

In an article for The Conversation, Georgia State University professor Timothy D. Lytton wrote:

The legislative process is intentionally designed to make it difficult to pass legislation over the strong opposition of a minority group. In this case, the extreme wing of the NRA membership has the ear of key congressional players like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley whose support is necessary to advance legislation. The result has been legislative deadlock.

Obama’s executive order is an attempt to bypass this legislative deadlock.

A post in U.S. News & World Report’s “Debate Club” section stated:

The House last week adopted a bill that, as the Associated Press put it, “would expedite congressional lawsuits against the chief executive for failure to enforce federal laws.” The measure was approved by a vote of 233 to 181, with every voting Republican, as well as five Democrats, voting in favor.

The bill was spurred by what Republicans see as an abuse of executive power by the Obama administration. They cite executive changes to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, as well as executive orders regarding immigration and the environment. Republicans are also displeased with the administration for failing to fully enforce federal laws on sentencing and the federal ban on gay marriage.

It is no secret that Obama likes to play golf — the more famous his opponent the better, as was the case when he played Tiger Woods. The president famously brings his work to the golf course. He once played a round of golf with then-Speaker John Boehner in an attempt to get the legislative and executive branches to have better relations, or at least an improved scorecard.

A few years ago, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Institute estimated that the president has spent more than twice as many hours on vacation and golf (976 hours) as he has in economic meetings.

Envy

It is known that Obama is envious that he is not held in higher esteem compared to other presidents, especially their poll ratings. Obama’s job approval rating in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll in December stood at a mediocre 43 percent. Over the seven years he has been in office, it has never gone above 61 percent — a level reached only in his early months in office. It is just 36 percent among whites.

Obama hoped to be a transformative president, celebrated by liberals the way President Ronald Reagan is still celebrated by conservatives.

His attempt to soothe race relations has fallen flat on its face. Today, there is more racial tension in the United States than there has been in 20 years. That’s a testament to Obama’s failure as president, and it has led many people to feel they have suffered because of his leadership over the past seven years.